Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 Receives FIA Homologation

The Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 has received official homologation from the FIA

The Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 has officially received homologation from the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). Starting from Jan 1, 2024 onwards, this manic rally hatch is available for customer rally racing, set to make its rally debut at the upcoming 2024 season of the FIA World Rally Championship 2 (WRC2).

Developed by Toyota Gazoo Racing World Rally Team (TGR-WRT), the GR Yaris Rally2 made its first public appearance at the 2022 Rally Japan season, piloted by Toyota’s chairman Akio Toyoda (a.k.a. Master Driver Morizo) himself. After clocking more than 15,000 KM from multiple entrants in Japanese rally stages, the GR Yaris Rally2 is finally ready for customer rally racing.

Toyoda aims for the GR Yaris Rally2 to bridge the gap between the manic GR Yaris Rally1 hybrid and its road-legal production twin, while the Japanese marque seems to employ the tried and tested tactic of ‘win on Sunday, sell on Monday’.

Similar to the road-legal GR Yaris hot hatch, the GR Yaris Rally2 is powered by a 1.6-litre 3-cyl turbocharged mill developed by GR, with no final power output released for now. Said mill is then mated to a 5-speed sequential gearbox and an all-wheel drive (AWD) system with motorsport specification and limited-slip differential. As per FIA regulations, this rally hatch tips the scale at only 1,230 KG.

Rookie Racing's Toyota GR Yaris Rally2, set to compete in the 2024 WRC2 championship

Set to be distributed globally, the first unit of the GR Yaris Rally2 will be delivered to Rookie Racing, a sister team to the Toyota GR rally outfit led by Mr. Morizo himself. In charge of piloting the rally car is a Finnish duo composed of former FIA Junior WRC champion Sami Pajari and his co-driver Enni Mälkönen.

Together with four other private outfits, the new GR Yaris Rally2 is set to make its competitive debut at the Rallye Monte-Carlo later in Jan 25 to 28, which serves as the first round of the 2024 FIA WRC2 championship.